BY DAVE LINK
Rain or shine. Warm or cold weather.
Get ready for some soccer.
The TSSAA boys’ season officially starts Monday (March 2).
And being springtime, you never know about the weather.
Regardless, by the time teams qualify for Spring Fling in May, the competition will have heated up along with the temperatures on the field.
The 5Star Preps coverage area has plenty of teams yearning to get to Murfreesboro for the 2026 state championships.
Hardin Valley Academy and Grace Christian Academy won state titles last season, and South-Doyle got to a state championship game.
It was a historic run for the Grace Christian program, which made its first Final Four appearance in boys’ soccer last season and left with the Division I-A state championship.
HVA won the Class AAA state championship – the program’s second overall and its first since 2011 — and in the process rallied to beat District 4-AAA rival and state power Bearden 3-2 in a state quarterfinal match.
South-Doyle couldn’t pull off back-to-back state titles in Class AA, losing to Gallatin’s Station Camp 3-1 in the final.
The Cherokees shared the Class AA stage among Knoxville schools with Fulton, which made its first-ever state appearance. Cocke County also reached state in Class AA and lost to Station Camp in the quarterfinals.
In Class A, Gatlinburg-Pittman fell short of a fourth state championship since 2018 with a 2-0 loss to Independence Academy in the state semifinals.
All are eager for the regular season to get started. Here’s a look:
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